Disclaimer: Fate and Persona are owned by different companies, and I hold no ownership and all that jazz.


7/30

Tricky&Kitty: Could you help Me an Morgana w/ Magic?

Hakunon: Sure… Mementos?

Tricky&Kitty: I'm in Kichijoji atm will head there, had to make a pit stop to sell sooty gear an Akechi wanted to hang for a bit.

Hakunon: Hmm… Wasn't that where the leyline was?

Tricky&Kitty: The what line?

Hakunon: Where you went into my Palace.

Tricky&Kitty: Oh ye, y

Hakunon: Meet up there? Ask Temple staff first.

Tricky&Kitty: Sure.


"Hakuno up here!" She blinked as she heard Morgana's voice, not seeing him on the ground she looked up, seeing the black ball of fur on top of the informational desk.

With a single tiny flicker of light Morgana appeared at her feet… on his back. With a grunt, he got on all fours, "Still not used to this in the real world."

Hakuno nodded, teleportation wasn't normal magecraft… "You are both old and young… Whoever turned you into your form was ancient and powerful that it left a permanent mark on your soul."

"Mmm… that just goes to show how special I am." Morgana preened. "Their cafe is right over here." The duo only had to walk for a few minutes before seeing Akira and Akechi leave the cafe.

So it was the second detective Prince…

She knew that he went to Leblanc, but didn't know they were friends. Akechi still felt like… a hunter? He is a detective who is vocal about his dislike for the Phantom Thieves. Supposedly he's good at sniffing out criminals…Could he have discovered their identities?

If that was the case… then why hasn't he acted on it? She watched as he split off from Akira and entered a large crowd before disappearing.

"I know that look," Morgana spoke as Akira nodded.

A Look?

"You're trying to figure something out, your eyes change slightly. You seem to focus a lot more intensely" She didn't know that…"When you heard me speak for the first time it was the same look."

Hmm…

Akira sighed, "Akechi hears Morgana." Ah.

"Wizard?"

Akira shrugged, "Couldn't tell you, He hasn't done anything just yet… at least nothing I've seen… But it's incredibly suspicious. Better to keep him close and know what he is planning than to let him go wild."

Makes sense to her. A tiny voice that sounds reminiscent of Rin tells her they should snuff out this possible problem.

But.

She will not kill in this life.


"So this is the temple…" Hakuno can feel it, the world slowly churning under her feet, the breath of the planet. A monk stood at the gate as Akira waved at him.

"The eyes, ears, and nostrils are all pairs, yet the mouth is not. Why is that so?" A riddle?

"The mouth can be two, silent and loud."
"Interesting…" The monk nodded, "Ah, pardon me, you youngster's here to calm your hearts?"

"Hey Takeshi, mind if I go to my normal place?" The priest smiled.

"Young Akira of course! You and your amazing friends are always welcome here."

What… did Akira do to get this kind of reaction?

Morgana purred, "We took care of a small mouse problem, and a mementos mission was for them."

Their 'normal place' was a small Pavilion, Hakuno could see koi fish swim lazily in their small pond. The trio of them sat near the pond, Morgana's ears twitching whenever a koi got close to the surface of the water.

"So… how should we do this?"

"Not too sure… concentrate on your eyes, use the trigger of your Magical Energy." Hakuno has always been able to trigger her circuits to activate, the crashing of the ocean…

Perhaps it was due to the Moon Cell designing itself to have an Ocean that surrounded the Arena.

"You have something akin to mystic eyes, so try and reproduce that feeling."

Morgana perked, "Just focus and!" Twist of light as he teleported, "Boom!" upside down again.

"Try and find your core, just focus on your soul. Focus on your eyes and slowly follow the magical energy." That sounded like it would work… she got into the zone when making Mystic Codes. Maybe his magecraft is something similar to making something?

Akira nodded as he sat in a meditative, "Morgana, I think yours involves knowing exactly where you intend to go. From the way your body stands to the location you intend to go."

Morgana huffed, "It's so much easier in the Metaverse."
Perhaps… "Could it be your cognition?"

Morgana's ears fell, as a confused look came across his face, "You mean that because I know I can teleport the Metaverse helps to make sure I teleport right?"

Hakuno nodded, "Like a training wheel."

Morgana pouted, "Then… how do I do it without it's help?"

"Practice… but don't exert yourself too much… Magecraft can be deadly."


The trio stayed for a few hours as night began to encroach, Akira stood up and stretched, "I think I got it." He held out his hand as a tiny flicker of flames appeared.

Fire control? As quickly as she had that thought a shift occurred from him as the flames turned to ice before he began to pant heavily.

"Depending on my Persona… I should be able to draw some amount of their power." Hakuno nodded, but…

The amount he could draw was minimal, almost… useless.

Akira sighed, "In the Metaverse it should help conserve SP I just got to get close to them."

Hakuno nodded before remembering, "Oh… can you take me to Iwai's?" Morgana perked at hearing that.

"MINIGUN!"

Akira just looked concerned.

Hakuno could only shrug helplessly.


7/31

Tricky&Kitty: Sorry team, something came up can't go in today, Futaba and Yusuke prepare the calling card for tomorrow.

Hakuno shrugged as she decided to spend her free day at Leblanc… Before getting a text from Makoto.

Makoto: Please help me. Double date?


The trip to Makoto's apartment was quick, Hakuno had debated on grabbing Ann but the model had already left for a shoot.

Hakuno knocked on the front door Makoto slammed the door open and was rushed inside. "Can't let the neighbors know…"

Hakuno sighed as she noticed only Makoto and her shoes were in the entranceway.

Sae wasn't home.

Which Hakuno thought was a small blessing in this situation.

"So… what exactly happened?"

Makoto sighed, "Eiko thinks that Akira is my boyfriend, and using that facade I'm able to keep tabs on her. Her… boyfriend is a host at a bar and is asking her for money. I just want to help her."

Fake boyfriend plot?

Hakuno nodded in understanding, "Ok… so what do you need my help with?" Admittedly Hakuno should have asked that before she got here.

Makoto groaned, "I don't know!?"

Hakuno sighed, "Well… wait… maybe you can ask if Futaba has any bugs? If you have it recorded that he does something behind her back…"

Makoto's face scrunched, "I'm not too sure it would work… don't you need to retrieve them? And well… The meeting is in a few hours, not enough time to go to Leblanc and back."

Fair points…

"Makoto… why not trust Eiko?"

"Both you and Akira said that… but I did look up his name a bit and I saw a few rumors about him being banned from a few clubs."

Hakuno nodded, "But not for what reasons right? And they are just rumors?"

Makoto grimaced, "Yes…"

"But… To completely rule out your gut feeling wouldn't be too smart…" Hakuno herself survived off of gut feelings in the past, and Makoto's intuition led to her figuring out the identities of the Phantom Thieves almost instantly. At the very least nothing can be ruled out just yet.

"Be careful, but… don't be too aggressive, let him relax…he might let something slip if he feels safe. Maybe let Akira lead with the questioning?"

Makoto nodded stiffly, "No wait… I got this. Thank you Hakuno."


Hakuno sighed as she plopped her bag onto Futaba's bed, admittedly she had very few plans for today...

"Yo." Futaba's eyes were glued onto her screen, "Yeah yeah! I'm a Girl Shut up you noobs!"

Hakuno rolled her eyes as she began to put together Morgana's Minigun model, while Akira just bought the ones premade… Hakuno found that a bit dull as she enjoyed the challenge. Although she did cheat, it was necessary to ensure it could contain her magical energy… and she wouldn't need glue or any tools more than a simple screwdriver.

"SUCK IT!"

Hakuno sighed as Futaba pumped her fist, "Those guys sucked!"

"Didn't that game come out last week?" Hakuno was slightly happy as she bought a few extra of the more basic parts… she hadn't built one of the models in a while she sighed as the part turned to mush in her hands.

"Four days ago, and the devs already released a patch." Hakuno hummed, Futaba really hadn't changed since they were kids had she?

"Whose goin to use a minigun?"

"Morgana, I intend to attach it to his helmet, I'm not too sure he will be able to effortlessly control it though…" Hakuno had a feeling that using it would drain him fast of magical energy… if he could at all she wasn't all too confident in adding something complex to his plow.

"All for blowing stuff up but, why do we need it anyway?"

Hakuno paused, "This will be the first time you've seen it but… Palace Ruler Shadows typically have some aspect of them that is large, that and going into Mementos would be a bit easier."

"Oh right… Mementos… Everybodies Palace." Futaba's eyes danced back to her screen.

"Mhm…" Hakuno paused as she noticed Futaba's strange silence.

"You know, I've been wonderin', Hakuno you said your wish was to end the Holy Grail War right?" Futaba spoke slowly as Hakuno felt her body become cool as her Magic Circuits turned off so she could focus.

"Yes?" That was her wish. A fundamental part of who she was, she wished for nobody to obtain the Holy Grail… she couldn't envision a deadlier existence than the Moon Cell…

"Was that it?" Hakuno blinked, two sets of brown eyes stared at each other, "Could there have been another…" Futaba froze before putting her hands in between them, "Sorry forget I said anything!" Hakuno shook her head…

"I don't remember much." Which was weird, a small gap in memory for an AI. Perhaps… she had another wish?

But.

The Holy Grail only granted a Single Wish to those who won.

Her wish was an act of Selfishness disguised as selflessness.


She pondered on her way home.., Ann had asked to stop by the cafe something happened during one of her shoots and she wanted to talk… and eat lots of sweets.

"Over here!" Ann waved her down as she entered the cafe. "Mika challenged me!"

Ann's face was one of pride, "So my shoot today the producers finally noticed that Mika was badmouthing the other models to them and gave her a talking to… But from now on it's going to be a fair fight!"

"Oh?" From what little Ann has told her of Mika… that didn't really sound like the girl.

"Yeah! From now on… We are going to take the Modeling world by storm!"

"I thought you hated her?" At least, from what Hakuno thought.

Ann blinked a look of confusion etched on her face, "No not really, I couldn't bring myself to hate her. All she had done was to push me harder to realize I love Modeling."

Hakuno felt a small ripple of purpose from Ann's voice, "Akira… you and everyone in our…" Their food had arrived and Ann gave the waiter a brilliant smile, "Group, they saved me."

Now it was Hakuno's turn to be confused…

"You guys pulled me out of my rut… and without you guys pushing me on, I don't think I could ever have chosen my path."

"You did it yourself."

Ann sighed, "Take the compliment, you guys taught me how to be myself." Be… herself? "You guys got me to pick up the pace and work for my goal, I'm going to push myself until I'm Number 1."

Hakuno felt a small smile come across her, "I'm glad." She truly was, her cousin now had her own goals…

"Keep in mind though! You and everyone else are part of my Fanclub for life ya hear me?" Hakuno rolled her eyes.

"Let's eat… we have a big day tomorrow."


Hakuno lay on her bed, Avenger's book was finished leaving her alone with her own thoughts…

Which in a way was rare from how things have been going, from one event to the next Hakuno has been trudging through…

Hakuno's mind replayed what Futaba said earlier and she couldn't think of anything after until her birth.

An AI that fought and fought for freedom, but…

Was that all she was back then?

She wanted to explore Earth, be a normal girl, and live a normal life? Something she had hoped she would in this world.

She smelled the faint incense as she looked over, her victim's faces all bared into the open, she missed her friends, her new ones were great and she felt an attachment to them.

But. The ones she has slain are always there, Hakuno wished they could live a normal happy life. If... She got reincarnated then perhaps one day they would too, and Hakuno hoped it would be a peaceful life.

Each one had their own goals their wishes for life outside of the Moon Cell… And her friends in this life were the same. Both Ann and Ryuji had found their Paths and Hakuno did not doubt that the rest of the Thieves were close to grasping their own as well.

What exactly was her own goal and wish now that she in a way got her life? The Twins and Akira mentioned she was the Seeker… What did she Seek?


Madame Ran Rū, the great Voracious Murderer. Your victim's plea has been heard and We shall answer their call, all future victims will be protected as we will have you turn yourself in. In a time before, you were Sane, and we hope to make you once more. We will take your distorted desires without fail. Look forward to it… From the Phantom Thieves of Hearts.


Author's Note: Sorry it's a bit short, dealing with some personal stuff at home! No chapter next week either as also dealing with a bit of writer's block. Double hit I know, but I'll be back hopefully in two weeks!